The Hero of Zero
by Alcham of the Vael
Summary: When a bored half dragon adventurer gets his wish and is transported somewhere to find a new challenge and a new path in life, how will the world of Halekgania change? [NOTE: Currently discontinued, pending rewrite]
1. Chapter 1

Vale Brickson: Hero of the Planes, Master of the Frozen Blade, and many more titles in between, had a problem.

He had, for the past hundred years, found no one to pose a challenge to him. It was not that he was lusting for a fight, not in the least. It was just that after all of the grand adventures throughout his life he was simply bored; he had gone from one end of the world to the other. He had unearthed secrets about his own heritage and about the many planes of existance, and he had yet to find another cause worthy of his support. He enjoyed crafting with his horde but preferred to craft it for his friends, and did not feel the calling of his adoptive family's profession in soldiering.

He had become something of a living legend in this world and no one was willing to fight against him any more. Even the simple Gnolls had begun to turn to Heironeous rather than meet his wrath. He simply found that this world had no calling for him.

Pentagon of the five elemental spirits, His head whipped around, searching for the source of what seemed to be a young girl's voice. 'Oh no...' he knew where this was going. He put his gear on as quickly as he could. Heed my Summoning, Judging by the tempo of the chant, he bet he would just get his blade out before - And bring forth my familiar! 'Yep, that's about right' he thought as he was enveloped in the void between worlds. 'Now where am I going this time, and will I finally have something else to do?'

.~-line break-~*

The students of the Tristaim Academy of Magic were tense, expecting another explosion from a certain Pinkette's spell. She chanted the words quickly and precisely and they waited. And waited. After another minute, someone snickered and began to laugh. The pinkette panicked.

"Please, Mr. Colbert, please let me try again, I know I'll get it right this time!" The pinkette was distressed and all the older man could do was sigh.

"I'm sorry, Louise," the balding man said, "but this is a right of passage, and as it didn't work-" Just then, the ground lit up as if reflecting the sun. A pentagram of fair size quickly inscribed itself on the ground and surrounded itself in runic letters that none of the assembled students or teachers had ever seen. Finally, something materialized in the middle, before 'BOOM'! The explosion was heard for miles around and threw every single person in the clearing to the ground. As the smoke cleared the group could see a figure standing with a glowing frost-blue shaft in its hand.

.~-line break-~*

Vale coughed at the smoke caused by the explosive backlash. 'Someone needs work on their spell control,' he thought ruefully. He almost wished he'd studied the arcane instead of war and the divine. Ah well. He stood up from where he had landed and had his blade land in his palm. He stepped confidently into the rapidly dispelling smoke and listened as the murmurs began again. With his powerful hearing he could make out the words, but none of them were overly familiar. 'Glad I had my Ring of Tongues on; this could have gone poorly.' It was just as well then when he saw a man standing with a staff aimed at him.

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to put your weapon away." The man appeared to be in his mid forties and a quick detect evil told the draconian humanoid that he had nothing to fear.

"Fair enough, just don't go blowin' me up again if ya can." He latched his blade onto his back as he spoke, the saphire-blue etherial flames dimming down and revealing a shining blued steel blade. The balding man could only look on curiously. "So, whose the one that managed to drag me across the Multiverse as a Familiar?" He saw the pink haired young girl next to the balding man raise a hand tentatively. He smiled warmly as the teacher prompeted her to finish the ritual.

She walked up to him and with a blush said, "You should count yourself lucky!" So saying she jumped (he was rather tall, after all) and as he caught her planted a kiss on the tip of his nose.

He felt the burning in his hand as magical energies worked their way through his body, but he simply chuckled and said, "You're right, you're a right cute'n, little girl. But I would appreciate it if'n ya warned me first." (Fort 52 vs. DC 25) She blushed and murmured that 'it was her first kiss, too,' and he chuckled again.

The older man approached the pair cautiously. "Um, If you don't mind, I'd like to see the runes that were inscribed, Mister...?"

The half-dragon nodded and presented his hand as he introduced himself. "Vale Brickson, Master of the Frozen Blade, At your Service." He may be proud of his achievements, but at least he wasn't vain. Well, overly vain. Some of the time.

The man nodded. "Professer Colbert, of the Tristaim Academy of Magic." He nudged the young summoner with his foot as he examined the linen of runes on Vale's hand.

The pinkette squeaked and said, "I am Louise François le Blanc de la Vallière of the Vallière Family," she spoke, gaining more confidence as she progressed. The Ring didn't translate some of that, so it must all have been part of her name.

Colbert finished reading the runes on his hand. "Those are odd, I'm going to have to look them up soon." He turned to the rest of the people there. "Alright, time to go back to class," the professor yelled to the crowd. To Vale's mild surprise all of them except Louise began to fly back to the school.

He looked around and said, "Right, Academy of Magic." He turned to his summoner and said, "I take it you're still learnin' that one?" Her eye twitched and she nodded violently. "Yes," she all but shouted, "so come on, we've got a ways to walk before we get to the academy." She grabbed him and he let himself be dragged off. Well, he was bored and lonely, time to start a new adventure, so it seemed.


	2. Chapter 2

Vale found himself in the room of a young human girl. Said young girl was deciding to get undressed.

"Wait, wait, wait, little lady, what're you doing?" Vale asked. He was met with a bundle of clothes to the face.

"I am getting ready for bed." she said in a firm tone. "I expect those clothes to be washed by the morning, and you are to wake me up at dawn familiar."

Vale sighed. "Wakin' ya up? No problem. Washin' your clothes, ain't gonna happen little girl."

She glared at Vale. "I am your Master and I expect you, my familiar, to listen to what I tell you to do." She was practically yelling at him.

He sighed at the 'Master' part and replied, "A contract between either a summoned entitity and the one whom summoned it is one generally of subservience to the summoner. I assume you're going to with the line of 'As you have summoned me, I am your servant and You are the master'?" She nodded firmly, with a glint of a smile in her eye. "The last'n I met who claimed to be a 'Master' of her servants was a particularly nasty Drow. She attempted to force me into 'servitude'. I showed her why I'm named the 'Master of the Frozen Blade'." At that, Louise swallowed. She was quiet for a time longer. "Hey, if'n ya ask nicely I'll still take yer clothes t' the laundry and wake ya up."

Finally she asked, "What's a Drow?"

Vale blinked and looked over to the curious girl. "What's a Drow?" he asked back to reaffirm. She nodded and he sighed. "Kord, how far away did I go? Drow're the rulers of the Underdark, in league with the Mind Flayers and Beholders. The Underdark, before you ask," he continued, catching the look in her eye, "is the layer beneath the surface of my world, two thousand feet down below and spanning the entire world."

She nodded at that. "But that still doesn't say what a 'Drow' is or why I should be impressed." She was beginning to get haughty again.

"Drow are a group of Elves that were banished to the underdark for crimes lost to time. Their skin is dark as midnight and their eyes are paler than silver." He noticed Louise pale. "You have Elves on this world, right?"

Louise, for her part, was terrified now. "H-how did you kill an elf?! They're said to have First-Born magic and can take on any ten of our wizards without a sweat!" She looked him over. "Better yet, what are you?"

He winced. He didn't even bother to suppress the wince. She didn't know what a Drow was, and elves were considered evil; so how would the son of a dragon be taken? "I'd rather not say." She glared at him. "I insist on asking, what are you?" He sighed. "I am a Half Dragon, my mother was a silver dragon and my father was a human."

Louise, now shocked beyond common sense, fainted (Will 14 vs. DC 20). Vale, terrified for the young girl, immediately picked her up and looked for the infirmary. A young blonde teen who was talking to an equally young brunette was close by and he was able to ask him for directions to the infirmary. When he arrived he was glad that she had only fainted, and he could understand why. He decided to wait until dawn came to wake her and waited through the night, vigilant of his new charge.

.~-line break-~*

The little pinkette was roused by a gentle glowing light and slowly opened her eyes. It edged off as she did and she saw the concerned countenance of her new familiar and was reminded of the night before. She took a breath and was barely kept back from screaming by a quick 'Shh-shh-sh!' from her familiar. He spoke quietly, "Another person came in with a fever after you did, he's just now sleeping soundly. I don't want to wake him up." She was disconcerted by the odd gesture to a stranger.

"And where am I, familiar?" she asked. She decided, she wasn't going to use his name.

"I brought ya to the infirmary. I've got a change of clothes for y. I'll wait outside the infirmary when you're ready to go." Thus saying, Vale quickly got up and left. He didn't have to wait too long. Though her hair was still lightly rumpled from the unsettled sleep, her uniform appeared to be all in order.

"I have a class starting shortly, please accompany me to breakfast, familiar." Her tone was authorative, but not overwhelming, so he simply sighed and followed her to a hall that had high vaulted ceilings and Vale could only think, 'Only mages would so needlessly use their spells to shape such extravagent rooms.' And he felt like he was back in one of the castles back home, if only for a while.

He shook his head and followed Louise to one of the tables after grabbing a plate of what appeared to be bacon and eggs. Louise only glared at him. "What?" he asked.

"This food is for nobles only, you know." He sighed again at her statement. It was going to be a very, very trying time for a few weeks.

"I'm noble enough.," he said, grabbing a fork and beginning to dig in. "Been the hon'rary Duke of th' Court for nearly a cent'ry now. Title only, but still technically a noble."

Louise twitched before shouting, "That's not what I mean and you know it! And what do you mean, Century?" They were interrupted by a chuckle from the end of the table.

He looked over to see a dark skinned young lady with red hair. "So this is the familiar you've summoned, Louise the Zero?" She asked. "Well, it certainly is an odd one, I can give you that."

"What do you want, Kirche?" Louise asked hotly.

"Oh, just to make sure you were as boisterous as usual, Louise. And to let you meet my familiar, Flame." Vale looked over to the rather large fire lizard. It was familiar to some of the magical beasts back home but not quite the same.

"That's a Salamander, right?" Louise asked grudgingly.

Kirche chuckled, "Yes, and it's quite nice, but nowhere near as awesome as Tabitha's. She did summon a Wind dragon after all." They all looked to the chuckling Vale.

"So," he said after a moment, "There're at least th' 'Lesser Dragons' here. Glad to hear that." They all gave him an odd eye.

"Lesser dragons?" Kirche finally asked. "Wind Dragons may not be as strong as Fire Dragons, but they are by no means weak!"

Vale sighed. "I'm thinkin' we may have a different opinion of weak 'n strong dragons."

Tabitha, who had been quiet until now, said, "Class. We'll be late." Kirche and Louise nodded and then hurried their eating. Vale quickly finished the light breakfast (at least light by the standards of the half-dragon) and they hurried off to the classroom.


	3. Chapter 3

The classroom was arranged like a learning amphitheater from his own home, with long bar-style desks arranged on several tiers of the classroom. Louise took a seat near Kirche and he revised his opinion of the pair. Rival friends, rather than just rivals. The class was quiet for all of about ten seconds after Louise entered. Then it erupted in mocking laughter at the young wizard.

"What is that, Louise the Zero?" a rather annoying one called out, "A commoner in a shiny Lizard Suit?" The class heard a loud 'CLANG' and looked over to see said commoner with a rather hefty hammer in his hand, the head resting on the floor.

His grin was full of malice and he had a wicked note to his voice as he practically hissed, "So who was the one who called me a Lizard? Hmm?" The class edged away from a somewhat heavyset young man with a pasty tan (Intimidate 22). The silence ended when Vale picked up his hammer and strapped it to his waist, "Well, jes' don' let it happen again. I rather dislike that compar'son, Lizardfolk are rather barbaric in my eyes." The teacher entered the class just after Vale took a seat next to his young ward.

"Good morning class, I am Professor Chevreausse, and my runic name is 'Red Clay'. I will be instructing you in the use of Earth magic this year." Vale listened in. He learned that while their information on magic was technically accurate, it didn't quite have the same sophistication and refinement that the mages on his own plane had. He quickly learned that the classes of mage were 'Dot, for one element; Line for two, Triangle for three, Square for four.' There seemed to be one missing and he ticked it off as either 'Spirit' or something similar. Chevreausse demonstrated a quick transmutation and then called on Louise to demonstrate.

"You sure you want to do that, Louise?" Kirche asked hesitantly. "I mean, there are plenty of other candidates..."

Louise gripped her wand and marched to the front of the classroom. "Of course I'll do it!" She declared vehemently. Kirche looked over to Vale and said, "You may want to get under something."

He shook his head and kept his seat, watching the young wizard chant. Something seemed to go wrong and there was an explosion. The entire class was thrown to all corners of the room, but oddly enough the half dragon was nowhere to be seen. He could hear the class taunting her and her punishment of having to clean the room, that was sure, but he could not be certain where he was. It was rather dark and he seemed to be hanging.

Finally, he felt something touch his foot and yelled out, "Hey, if'n yer gonna poke me, at leas' get me outta here!" After a small bout of laughing from the other side of the barrier, he learned that he had been stuck in the roof from the explosion.

.~-line break-~*

After cleaning up the mess of the room lunch came. Louise, annoyed at her familiar's standoffish attitude after the event, had left him to 'Reap what he Sowed': i.e., no lunch. Which is why he decided to find the kitchen; at least he could grab something to eat there without too much problem. He walked around and found an entrance to the kitchen. A young maid was there and he quietly asked her for some lunch. She smiled, despite his somewhat offputing appearance, and led him around to where the staff was eating. "Sorry for this, but the only meals were staff meals," Siesta, as she revealed her name to be, apologized.

He smiled warmly, remembering not to show teeth. "Not at all, this is absolutely delicious!" They talked for a minute or two as he ate and he offered to help with serving when he was done. As he was accomplishing his 'Very Minor Quest, chuckle chuckle,' he heard an argument. Looking over he saw the helpful young man from the previous night, the brown haired young girl, and another girl with blonde curly hair. ( 'Hey, if you've got to learn people, learn their hair. If it's unique enough it'll stick with you.' Hadn't failed him so far.)

"Hey, kid," the trio looked over to him. "Thanks for helpin' me las' night, and thank ya too young miss," he said, gesturing to the young blonde man and the brown haired girl. The blonde girl, on the other hand, was furious. With a slap she laid him out on the floor and both girls stalked away. Vale put two and two together. "Oh. Playboy. Right." He shrugged.

"So... you dare address a Noble in such a manner..." The young man stood up and glared at Vale, and the silver-scaled man got a good look at him. He was dressed in a rather flamboyant frilly shirt and carried a rose of all things. "Well, beast or not that is not easily forgiven!"

Vale twitched, but kept a small smile. "Well, I would like to point out that the two young women were the victims of the only 'beast' I see in this room." He heard a gasp from Siesta behind him as the young blonde was all but livid.

"Such uncouth words!" the overdramatic playboy yelled. "I cannot let this slight to my honor and the honor of those women stand! ("Wait, wasn't that you though?") I challenge you to a duel, knave!"

Vale grinned. He grinned a grin that had earned him the nickname, 'Devilteeth'. The child in front of him had uttered words that no being on seven planes of existence had dared utter for a long while. Better yet, he was doing quite well at ignoring his grin. "When and where, may I ask?" He heard footsteps running out the hall but didn't pay them any mind.

"Fifteen minutes in Vestri Courtyard, be there and I shall put you in your place." The young playboy practically swaggered out of the room, probably to get prepared. He heard two pairs of footsteps as he turned and he was rewarded by the sight of Siesta and Louise.

"Well, come on," Louise said, "we need to go back and apologize to Guiche before you get hurt in the duel."

Vale raised a brow ridge at her. "And why would we do that? He has challenged me to a duel and I accepted."

Louise had a distressed tone in her voice. "I know you claim to be a sword master," she said, "But I don't want you to get hurt! No commoner has a chance against a mage!" She was disturbed when he only chuckled.

"While you may have a stronger connection to the arcane than that of most mages on my own home plane," he said to her confusion, "I can confidently say that the child I saw would not be enough to even give me a warm up."

Ignoring Louise and Siesta's panicked protests (and one question of 'what happened to your accent?'), he set off in the direction of the courtyards. It wasn't too hard to find the appropriate one.


	4. Chapter 4

Vale saw Guiche walk into the courtyard with the same swagger as he had left the dining hall. With an air of arrogant confidence the young playboy said, "Ah, so you came to get your beating after all!"

The half-dragon sighed. Arrogance was the pitfall of the weak. "Come now, Kord won't like it if I beat you after taunting you in kind." He smiled warmly. "And besides, I'd rather talk this out than have to send you to the infirmary."

The crowd laughed at him. "No, you poor beast, I've got no intention of letting you go now!" He pulled out a rose wand and sent a petal towards Vale's feet. "And since you seem to be unarmed, here! I, Guiche the Bronze, shall at least give you this much!" A blade sprouted from the ground at Vale's feet. It was a longsword, but not a very well made one.

Vale sighed and picked up the longsword. With a flick of his wrist he sent it flying off to an unoccupied corner where it embedded itself to the hilt in a tree. If Guiche had noticed where it landed, he probably would have been frightened. "I'll do this without a blade, don't worry." He flexed his hands and got ready. "Though, you might not think that the case when we're done. I, Vale, Master of the Frozen Blade, accept your challenge."

"Then we begin!" The young caster summoned a golem with another of the petals. "This is my Valkyrie, and she will be your opponent! En garde!"

The golem was made of bronze and had wings. It bore a spear and moved with a slight bit more grace than the other golems he had seen of similar quality, and attacked him with all of the spear except for the blade. 'Quick summon, so special properties probably.' He sidestepped a thrust from the golem's spear and swatted it away. 'Greater than human strength, probably the same qualities as other golems.' He sent a slow punch which barely avoided connecting. 'Dexterity seems greatly improved.'

He turned and caught the next attack on his gut as the golem caught him by surprise. He heard Louise call his name and a laugh from Guiche. It cut off fairly quickly when the young mage caught Vale's grin. 'And those are easy to overcome.'

With a sudden chop from his bare hand the clearing was rent with a screeching sound. The onlookers covered their ears, and those who could see what happened merely gaped. With his bare hand, this 'common beast' had cut through the Valkyrie. "My turn, playboy," the half dragon said. Guiche panicked and summoned five more.

It couldn't be said that the silver-scaled dragon had expected this. It could, however, be said that he did have a plan. "You may want to duck, kid, or you may get a bit of a cold shoulder. And everything else." After witnessing the being in front of them tear through the golem they all followed his advice, even the playboy. Vale took a deep breath as they ducked. The golems approached closer. They moved to attack, but Vale was quicker.

With a mighty roar he unleashed the frozen wrath of his breath weapon against the group of valkyries. They tried to move against the overwhelming assault of the draconic frost, but even the constructs couldn't withstand. From at least the waist up, or in the case of one who had been airborne the ankles up, the golems froze completely. The golems collapsed to the ground where their frozen metal shattered into small pieces. Silence prevailed.

Guiche watched as the half-dragon walked over the ground as the ice melted. He panicked and summoned another golem, which managed to catch him off guard. A slice appeared on his chin as the golem crushed its hand against his face (Fort 51 vs. DC 40). He grabbed the offending arm and used it as a lever to crush the golem against the ground. Finally, the half-dragon stopped and knelt on the ground in front of the terrified Guiche. "Hold up," he said as the 'common beast' pulled a flask out of one of his pouches, "You got nicked by my attack, let me heal that for ya." He poured a small amount of salve from the bottle and began putting it on the kids hand.

The Noble looked down as the salve was applied to the frostbitten hand. "I yield."

.~-line break-~*

The image ended and Colbert was talking to Old Osmond, the head of the academy, excitedly. "See, that's proof! It's the legendary familiar, Windalfr!"

Old Osmond 'Hmm'ed. It seemed rather impossible, but there it was. "We'll continue to watch and see what happens," he finally said. Neither of them knew that there had been an eavesdropper on the conversation.

.~-line break-~*

Vale walked with Louise back to her room. She seemed rather subdued about the whole thing. Finally, when they were behind closed doors, she asked, "How did you do that?"

Vale blinked. "The freezing thing? Or chopping through metal? Or which part?"

"All of it!" she shouted. He sighed yet again.

"The Frost Breath is part of my Heritage. Silver Dragons breathe frost and are immune to its bitter sting. That was a trait that came in handy during my brief visit to the Seventh Hell, where I learned how to shape my fist to alter the type of damage I could deal." He grimaced. "For the record, dealing with a Flesh Golem is nearly impossible with a blunt weapon, regardless of what any gatekeeper ever says. What I did with the sword (which was rather impractical, by the way) was a mere party trick I learned after using my own great sword."

Louise was stunned by what she'd heard. She shook herself and finally asked, "And the salve?"

"Ah!" he exclaimed. "That I usually carry around with me in plentiful amounts. I don't like it when people get hurt needlessly with my breath attack and so I had a friend of mine, and alchemist, whip it up. It'll heal any frost damage as good as new."

With that, Louise was certain; whomever she had managed to summon was rather odd. And if she ever decided to try and force him into any sort of action he did not want to take... her thoughts returned to the shattered remains of several golems, and the crushed remnants of two others.

(Elsewhere on campus...)

Kirche was working on something. "I don't care," she muttered to herself as she looked for the right clothing, "If he is a beast," she dug some more clothing out of her closet. The salamander twitched indignantly as a pair of panties landed in its eye. "I am going to make him mine!" She began a long, convoluted plan for getting him there. And it would have worked, had the half-dragon been as succeptible as a sixteen year old boy.


	5. Chapter 5

Louise walked around town with her familiar, who was once more carrying his own blade over his shoulder for all to see. Eventually, the pair entered a shop.

Vale looked around in mild confusion. "A weapon shop?" he asked.

Louise nodded. "Yes, a Weapon Shop. As a reward for letting me know about you, I am going to get you a gift."

Vale sighed. "I greatly prefer my own weapon, you know."

In response to his own sigh, Louise had begun to develop a huff of sorts. "Well, I'm going to get you one, regardless." Resignedly the two walked up to the counter.

"What can I get for you today, Noble Guests?" The man had a sleazy air about him. Louise answered quickly, "A fine sword for my guard, here."

The shopkeeper, not used to seeing anything but human customers in his shop took one look at the draconic visage of his customer and almost fainted. The six-foot-tall, silver scaled, short horned, finned and more featured half-dragon was used to this treatment, thankfully. After the shopkeeper returned from la-la land he began to shuffle around. He eventually produced an exquisite rapier from behind the counter, with a jeweled basket hilt and silver blade it was a work of art. "This fine piece is from the master smiths in our own Tristaim, and is only 300 New Gold or 250 Ecu Gold."

The half-dragon heard Louise groan and was pretty sure that was a high price. He picked it up and tested it. To his and everyone elses surprise the sheer strain on the weapon from being swung snapped it like a twig. "It's sub-par, with a poor spine and even worse balance. Or at least it was," the half-dragon ammended. The shopkeeper only muttered, "You're paying for that." Louise huffed.

He produced another blade, thicker than the first and even more jeweled. Just as before, the strain was over-much for the poor blade and it too snapped. "That one was three thousand." Vale stopped. And turned to the shopkeeper with a gleam in his eye.

"And how do you suppose that, if I may ask?" He had more than enough, it was just that this sad excuse for a weapon was so far below par as to be called useless. The shopkeeper proceeded to mention the sword's pedigree but was quickly distracted by a sniggering from a basket at the corner. "Hey, don't bother with that prick. He's rather fond of passing off useless steel as quality work." Vale blinked. And picked up the blade. It was a single edged long sword and he could feel the energy going through it. "Hey!" the sword exclaimed, "You've got the mark of my old partner's partner!"

Vale let out a confused, "Huh?"

The blade chuckled. "Don't worry about it. I would just like to know if you'd be willing to take me with you, I can't stand another moment in this shop."

Vale considered the blade. "I'll bring you with me, but I prefer my own weapon." The blade only chuckled again.

"Yeah, the old partner's partner said the same thing." It was quiet for a moment as Louise adressed the familiar.

"And how do you expect me to pay off those swords?" she asked irately. Vale patted her head.

"Don't worry," he said," I've got this." He pulled out a small amulet, and the two people in the shop gasped, along with the pair that had just walked through the door.

It was a single red gem set in a blood-red metal with pale yellow topaz circling it. Thin veins of white paid compliment to another strange blue metal outlined the metal in a filigree. Even the chain it hung on was a work of priceless art, each tiny segment worked from another precious metal, some that they had never seen before, arrayed in a gradient from dark red gold to purest white. "Will this be enough for all three swords?" he asked the shopkeeper. He grinned as the greedy man could only nod numbly and accept the pendant. Wordlessly the shop emptied.

The two who had walked through the door were Kirche and Tabitha, and by the looks of it Kirche was absolutely dumbstruck at the pendant. "Why did you ever give up such a lovely thing?" the redhead asked.

Louise nodded, especially after hearing how dragons in his own world hoarded treasure and how he himself had that tendency. Vale, however, only chuckled. "Because I have the metal I need to make a new one right here," he said, patting the pouch where the pair of ruined blades rested. "He may be one of the worst negotiators I've ever seen. That was just bronze, steel, a garnet, and some shattered topaz. It's beautiful, but the metal I can get from these is far better." The only one who didn't stare was Tabitha, who had gone around to get Sylpheed, her wind dragon.

Vale smiled as he saw the young dragon. "Yeah, we've got different measures of a strong dragon," he said to their surprise. "In my world even my half-brothers and sisters would outmatch this youngling."

"Oh?" asked Tabitha, showing a bit of reluctant pride.

Kirche agreed, "Yeah, what's so special about your half-siblings?" Vale grinned.

"Simple, their full-blooded silver dragons; just hatchlings still, but they'll get there in a century or two." The group again stared at him in shock, this time including Tabitha. Finally, Kirche chuckled. "Your mother must have been a brave woman." she said hesitantly. Vale laughed again. "You should say that about my father, too! I mean, how many humans are willing to mate with a dragon!" At this, two of the three girls face-vaulted. it only served to increase Vale's laughing.

"So," Louise asked, trying to change the subject, "where did you get that pendant? It was amazing!"

Vale smiled with more than just a little pride, "You liked that?" he asked. They nodded. "I made it about twenty years ago as a bet that I couldn't use sub-par material to make something look good." He chuckled ruefully. "And then lost the bet because the one whom he got to officiate the bet was greedier than most. Lost a good chunk of my hoard that day."

Kirche, who was dumbstruck by the amulet being of his own make asked, "And how much was that, if I may ask?" She was almost certain it couldn't be any excessive amount.

Vale shrugged. "Three,maybe four thousand platinum?" he guessed. "I'm not entirely sure, I had just finished eliminating a group of elder black dragons and I was granted their hoards in return for their heads." The group was confused.

"How much is one platinum?" they asked. Vale thought for a moment. "One platinum is worth ten of my gold. May I see some of your gold? If there's a more expensive type, may I see that?" The group pulled out their coinage. The smaller of the two, 'New Gold', was about three fourths the size of the 'Ecu Gold', which was about the size of the gold Vale produced. "So about ten Ecu gold is the same as one platinum where I'm from." The amount stunned the girls. Well, at least two of them. Tabitha was more interested in getting her wind dragon, Sylpheed, ready to go.


	6. Chapter 6

Vale relaxed into the bath he'd drawn for himself. He'd finally gotten his own room away from Louise. It wasn't that he disliked his new charge, it was just that she was a handful. He thought about what had happened today and was almost certain that the magic of this plane was the exact opposite of his own plane.

In his own home, anyone with a spark of talent could learn magic. He himself had almost gone with the arcane arts rather than fighting. Here it seemed that only those of a specific lineage could perform magic, and even then only Elemental magic. His own summoner, Louise, certainly had a powerful bit of magic to pull him across the multiverse, but it was uncertain where her talents lay. Perhaps she cast out of the 'Void' element that he had heard of?

'Ah well,' he thought to himself. 'Plenty of time to figure it out in the days to come.' He heard an explosion outside his window and felt the tower shake. He pulled his armor on as he got out of the bath and looked out the window to see what was going on.

His eyes widened as he beheld the largest Golem that he had ever heard of, made from simple soil and topped by a woman in a blue cape. He memorized her features as he jumped out of the window with his blade drawn. He landed with a hard thud and heard the girls next to him gasp. A quick look told him that it was the same group as before, Kirche, Tabitha, and Louise.

"Get down, I'll take care of this," he shouted as he ran towards the golem.

(POV shift: Louise)

Louise watched her silver-scaled familiar with a sense of shock. She had just seen him jump from the fourth floor and land without so much as a broken bone in a suit of armor that was the same resplendent color as his scales, and which could only have cost a fortune to make. He had a circlet of some unknown metal around his head that was even brighter than the armor, and his blade was out, glowing and crackling in its eldrich blue etherial glory.

Again, Louise had to ask herself just what she had summoned as it charged the enemy with its weapon drawn. She heard Kirche shout, "Wait!" and she saw a giant fist crashing down towards her familiar. She screamed as it landed with an almighty crash right on top of it. She fell to her knees and was certain that her familiar was dead.

Then the ice started to form.

Louise watched in shocked silence as the fist that had landed on top of her familiar was pushed up slowly, the sapphire energy of the unique blade embedded deep into the quickly freezing fist of the golem. Her familiar was straining and pushing against the golem's fist. With a shout it threw aside the giant stone fist and jumped on top of it. With a warcry it charged up the arm of the Golem and shouted something surprising.

"Surrender and I will show mercy!" it yelled to the thief. In response, the thief merely jumped off the arm of the golem and ran to the forest. With a yell the mysterious person called, "Foquet the Crumbling Dirt thanks you, Item Recieved!"

Louise's familiar face vaulted off the crumbling golem, and she ran to check its injuries.

(POV: Vale)

'That was the last straw, this world is officially insane,' Vale thought. He smiled at the irony of that statement. He heard someone running up behind him and with barely half a second's warning he felt Louise crash into his armor. She made a cute 'Ow!' and he turned to make sure she was alright.

"Are you alright, little one?" he asked with honest concern. She grumbled out that she was fine and he felt something else latch onto his back. A quick turn of his shoulder showed him Kirche, who had decided to drape herself over him like a cloak.

"What about yourself, Vale, are you alright?" Her voice set off warnings in his mind; she was trying to be seductive.

"I've had much worse, though the Golems of this world are quite unique," he admitted. The third member of the group pointed at him and said simply, "Armor."

"Yes," Kirche almost cried out, "Where did you get that armor? It's absolutely beautiful!"

Vale smiled at the memory. "It was a gift from the Ruler of the Silver Dragons for protecting his grand daughter. It's from his own personal Hoard, and I'm rather glad for it. It's saved me quite a few times from an untimely end."

Louise stomped her foot. "Well, where have you been keeping it all this time?" Kirche looked aghast at this and instead asked, "Rather, what do you mean, 'Ruler of the Silver Dragons'? I've never heard of him." Tabitha looked closely at Vale and he realized that she was staring at his horns. "What are you?" she asked quietly while pointing at him.

"In order," he started, "I've been wearing it under my normal garments this entire time; it's rather comfortable actually. The Ruler of the Silver Dragons, Olesh'Kant, is an ancient wyrm who has survived the past eight thousand years and is considered the wisest and fairest of his kind, and to explain what I am and what most of that means I would have to explain my home plane, my home world to you all; suffice it to say that I am a Half Silver Dragon. As it is, we have a theft to report." He turned with Kirche still on his back and picked up Louise. The two girls 'Eep'ed at the sudden movement and he turned to Tabitha.

"Am I going to have to pick you up too, or are you coming?" he asked. She shook her head and kept pace with Vale.

(Later towards morning)

The group had talked to Old Osmond and the teachers that were supposed to be on duty were roused from their beds. Vale found himself sighing again and a bit of frost leaked out with his breath. He was rather annoyed at the laziness of the group.

"So," Vale asked Old Osmond, "Have you determined the object that was procured by the thief last evening?"

The principle nodded. "Yes, it was the Staff of Destruction, a powerful artifact of unknown origin that was said to have caused an entire town's destruction."

Vale put his face in his palm. "I know this is an academy for those of a Magical persuasion," he said slowly, "But why in the name of the gods do you have such a thing?!" He heard someone gasp and saw Old Osmond twitch.

"Well, you see, we have the strongest vault outside of the Castle, so we have a responsibility to hold such art-"

He was cut off by a woman entering the room. Vale narrowed his eyes as he saw the thief from yesterday, merely with her hair tied back into a neat bun and a severe dress to compliment the pair of defined glasses. He murmured a quick, 'Kord permit only the truth within my reach,' and listened in. "Ah, miss Longueville," Osmond said happily, "Where have you been?"

She replied in a serious monotone, "I have been mrph-!" She was caught up as her tongue became tied. Vale smiled.

"Miss Longueville, are you alright?" Osmond asked. She nodded and tried to speak again, but was cut off. Vale's smile widened, but he was thwarted by her writing something down. Unfortunately, his ring didn't translate the written word, but at least he knew now that Kord's reach extended into this world. She handed the parchment over to Osmond. "Ah, just a slight alergic reaction to breakfast then," he said to Vale's annoyance. He hated that loophole. "Well, where were you, what were you up to?"

She quickly scribbled down that she had been talking to the commoners in the village and had learned where Foquet had gone. He snorted and kept her existence from the rest of the group. He was, after all, 'Just a Familiar.' Even a strong familiar, he was learning, had little say over anything but protecting their 'Masters'. He was beginning to come to the conclusion that he was definitely needed on this world, even if others didn't see it.

"Well then, who will go track down Foquet? Any volunteers?" The teachers made petty excuses and Osmond sighed. "Well, it seems that-" he was cut off again by Louise raising her wand into the air.

"Well then," Osmond said, "Are you sure?" Kirche raised her wand as well. "Can't let myself be outdone by a Vallerie," was all she said to everyone else's stares. Finally Tabitha raised her staff and said, "Worried."

Vale sighed. The girls didn't know what they were getting into. "Well then," Osmond continued, "This could be quite the able group. Tabitha, though young, holds the title of Chevalier." Vale reappraised the quiet young girl. "Kirche is a strong user of the Fire element and is part of a line of Germanian nobles who are used to battle." Well, two of the girls. "And Louise..." Osmond seemed to struggle for half a moment. "Louise is part of the famed and powerful Vallerie family and probably has a considerable amount of power." Vale almost chuckled at the poor man. Power? Plenty, from what Vale had seen. Skill? Not quite so much. "And you'll have your familiar with you, who is rumored to have defeated a Noble."

Colbert, who had been standing next to Osmond perked up and said, "Yes, after all he is the legendary Win-MMPH!" Osmond clapped a hand over Colbert's face and Vale could hear a quickly murmured, "Quiet you fool!" So Vale was immediately suspicious. It seemed he'd need to check if his hoard was accessible to him when he had the time to look up 'Legendary Win-' something. Who knows, he might get a hit.

Miss Longueville wrote something down quickly. "Ah, you'll lead them there? Excellent!" Vale sighed yet again.

(A/N: You should know by now that I don't post Author's Notes unless necessary. The next couple of chapters involve Demons, Redemption, and the use of one powerful spell. So before anyone reads and tries to track me down for a pitchfork mob, just know that I did warn you, and if you read it it's your own fault.)

(Also... might end up with three chapters in one day. My brain's on overdrive oddly enough right now.)


	7. Chapter 7

"So that's the shack that Foquet is hiding in," Louise stated. "Not much for a master criminal."

Vale felt something off. "Hang on a moment before going in," he said. He turned back to the house. He stretched his senses and was sent reeling by what he felt (28 Fort vs. stunned dc 27) He pulled his sword from his back and marched to the house. The girls were surprised by this turn of events. "Do not go in," he said, "And beware Miss Longueville. I believe she has betrayed us." He marched resolutely into the house and found what he was looking for straight off, sitting on an open tabletop.

It was five feet long, made of a whithered, graying wood, with maggots sporadically appearing on the surface. He knew that type of staff anywhere; he had hoped to have seen the last of them. A Staff of Corruption. He felt another evil presence behind him and beheld something else he had hoped never to see again; a succubus was walking over to the Staff, smiling at him. "Ah, what fools you adventurer's are, never checking for what's inside." Her voice was soft and sultry and he prepared his sword for what inevitably came next. "Oh, what's this little adventurer? Why would such a creature as noble and powerful as yourself come to this far away world?"

Vale growled, "I was summoned here and I intend to fill the contract I was bound to. What are you doing here?"

The demoness smiled with a sultry look in her eye. "Oh, I just wanted to see what this world has to offer. Why would you want to spoil my fun?" She was smiling, but her eyes kept flitting to the staff. Vale moved to cover it.

"This thing needs to be destroyed," he said, "and I intend to do it."

The succubus lost her cool (hot?) demeanor and got ready to attack. "I don't think so!"

(Meanwhile, outside)

Foquet was watching the scene unfold in the house. When she saw the succubus' attack repelled by the odd familiar and said familiar strike her, she gasped and crashed through the window, taking the next strike intended for the Succubus. She heard a scream, and then felt darkness take her.

(back to Vale)

Vale looked on in a mixture of curiosity and concern as the Succubus covered the young woman with her own body. "STAY BACK FROM HER!" she screamed at Vale. Fury was in her eyes, despite the terrible wound in her side.

Vale thought quickly. "What is she to you? Your summoner? A tool?"

Tears were in the succubus' eyes as she bitterly replied, "My savior. She pulled me from the pits, where I was being used as a pleasure slave for some noble that got lucky with a summoning circle." Vale watched her get back up with a hand covering the wound on her side. "And if you think I'm not going to pay you back for hurting her, YOU'RE WRONG!" The succubus struck out with her clawed hand but it was simply caught against Vale's arm guard. Recognition flashed through his eyes and he decided to try his offer.

"If you let me, I shall heal her," he said. "But... I am going to have to talk to both of you after I do so." The Succubus collapsed on the ground, the pain of her wound overwhelming her due to her surprise.

"Wh-why would you negotiate with me? I should kill you for your insolence. Why don't you slay me instead?" she asked in angry confusion.

Vale pulled a potion out of his pouch. "Half for you, half for her. If I find you healed and not her, I will slay you as you wish." She shuddered and unstoppered the cork while Vale turned to the staff and prepared his sword. In a flash and a thunderclap he sheared through it, dispelling the evil energies of the staff. Vale heard windows explode and doors fly off their hinges at the massive release of energy from the wicked staff.

It was then that the rest of the girls came through the door to see what had happened, and the result was yelling in fright at the demon. They raised their wands but Vale stepped in front of them. "Hold, I'm going to talk to them." They wanted to fight, but the commanding tone in his voice brooked no argument. He turned back to the Succubus, who was holding the slowly recovering Foquet, or rather Longueville. Their wounds were quickly healing over.

He knelt down in front of the pair and the two held their breath as they studied him. "By the Right of Kord, I Demand The Truth," he intoned. A brief flash came from Longueville and a growl came from the Succubus.

"What did you do to her?" She asked as the human recovered.

He met her glare evenly. "I invoked my right as Divine Crusader of Kord, calling on his power to ensure that she speaks nothing but the truth. Now be quiet for a while."

The dazed human woman slowly sat up. "What do you want from me?" she asked.

"Answers. Why did you steal the dark artifact?"

She took a moment to answer. "I was offered a rather large sum by a man in a mask if I could find it and return it to him. I was offered a larger sum if I could figure out how to use it."

"Why did you want the money so badly?" he pressed.

"So I could escape with Tyriende to where we would not be hunted."

"Was the man in the mask working for someone?"

"I do not know, just that he mentioned something called 'Reconquiesta,' and that he talked about a continuous position in his organization." Vale nodded and turned to the Succubus.

"I'll know if you're lying, Demon, so answer me truthfully," Vale demanded. The room was dead quiet as he asked, "What is this woman to you?"

Emotion flashed through the succubus' eye. "She is the one whom saved me, whom found me when I was trapped in a - pardon the pun - hellish place."

Vale nodded and continued, "You're a demon, why would any place be considered terrible for you?"

The demon growled and Vale glared. "I was used," she eventually spat out, "and I was used as little more than chattel."

Vale took her chin and looked her in the eyes as a radiant glow began to come from him. "Answer me truthfully, would you give your life to save hers?" The Demon ran a hand through the hair of Longueville and nodded quietly. Vale nodded and withdrew. From within his cloak he produced a small box, and with this box he did something rather impossible for its size. He stuck his entire arm into it and began to rummage around. The four who had never been to Vale's plane of existence gawked at the impossible feat, but the succubus was merely curious, albiet cautiously so. Finally he nodded and pulled out a flawless diamond as large as his fist.

"Have you ever heard rumors of those that appeared in the ranks of the Divine after an encounter in the Material Plane?" he asked. She nodded with dawning comprehension. "Then do you know what I am going to require of you for the protection of your loved one?" The four women stared at the demon. She merely nodded and took the diamond into her hands. "This may hurt for a moment, I am sorry for that."

He stepped back and placed the etherial blade of his greatsword against the top of her head. "Kord, I have found one who seeks Redemption. Show this Lost Soul the way to a pure life, that she may learn what it is she truly seeks." The Succubus glowed brighter than the sun for a moment before she fell to the floor, her body turning to ash before the horrified women.

"What did you do?!" screamed Longueville with tears in her eyes. "What did you to to Tyriende?!" He put the diamond into Longueville's hands and she could only stare at the gem with tears in her eyes as a cloudy substance circled inside.

"In a few months, maybe as little as a few weeks as she's already got a reason to change, she will come back," Vale said quietly. "She may feel love for you now, but her soul is corrupted with a taint stronger than any mortal bonds. The spell I cast is known as 'Sanctify the Wicked'. I took a piece of myself and used it to bind her in this diamond until her soul turns completely good."

Longueville's face turned up to him. "I won't tell any of the staff about who you are," he continued, "But, in return I want something from you." The girls in the room were listening intently to the way Vale was talking. "I want you to turn away from the path you were living. I want you to abandon your practice of stealing and do your best to live life well. I want you to come talk to me at least once a week so that I may see how you are progressing, and I want to make sure that when she comes back," he gestured to the diamond in her hands, "she has a chance to live a good life with you."

The woman nodded and Vale stood back up with his usual warm smile. "Good. Now, if you don't mind, I'm a bit tired from that spell. Let's go back to..." Vale's eyes closed and he collapsed onto the ground. Louise panicked for a moment, but was surprised to hear her familiar snoring.

Kirche recovered first. "Well... I take it that," she pointed to the shattered halves of the staff, "was the Rod of Destruction, so we'll need to bring it back."

Tabitha pointed at Longueville, "Foquet?" The woman in question nodded. Tabitha looked her over and said, "Trust the familiar, he's not a bad guy." So saying, she turned and picked up the halves as she walked out the door.

Louise stared at her Familiar with a mixture of curiosity and anger. "What in the world are you, you stupid familiar?!" Even out like a light, that same smile seemed to stick on his infuriating face. Sighing, she picked up one of her familiar's arms and turned to Kirche and Longueville. "Well," she asked, startling them, "are you going to help me lug him back?"

The school was in an uproar. Old Osmond was trying to quiet the teachers down, but they wanted answers. Why had a familiar destroyed a relic? Why did the group all say that Foquet had disappeared in the middle of the house? And why was the familiar unconscious when they needed all the answers? His thoughts were interrupted by a loud yawn from behind him, where the group that had gone to recover the artifact was.

Silence reigned for one beautiful moment and the clink of scales against plate mail was heard. "So," said a man's baritone voice, "How many questions do I have to answer this time?" As one, nearly all the teachers face-vaulted. This had happened before?

Old Osmond cleared his throat, turned to the familiar and asked with an air of authority, "Well, I'd like to ask you the one question that is of the most pressing concern; why were you unconscious?"

The familiar's smile widened to practically a grin. "Well, I had to use one of my most powerful spells, and Kord always demands a bit of restitution when I call on that much power."

The teachers all roared out in unison, "SPELL?!"

Vale winced. "Yes, spell. I am a Divine Crusader of Kord, one of the Paragon Dieties, and in return for my service he grants me access to a bit of his power, in the form of divine spells and a few other minor abilities." The crowd murmured for a moment amongst themselves.

Finally Old Osmond turned back. "I'll test your so called spells myself, later. For now I must know; why did you destroy the Rod of Destruction?"

Vale turned with disgust to the halves of the abominable weapon. "It is a weapon of my world that was crafted for a single purpose; corrupt those of pure heart. I have seen allies fall to its wickedness and I have no desire to see that happen here. It is within my job description, in fact, to destroy evil wherever I see it." He felt Longueville's eyes on the back of his head, boring into him, but he ignored it.

Osmond nodded at him slowly. "I see. Would you mind telling me where Foquet went?"

Vale shrugged and grinned, "Sorry, not a clue." (Bluff roll: 18 (unskilled) vs. Sense Motive roll: 29 (skilled; what, you think the head of an entire school would be overly gullible?))

The Principle glared at Vale. "Why do I have the feeling that you are lying?" Vale's grin only widened. Osmond sighed. "Well, just as long as he is dealt with and whatever you did doesn't come back to bite us, we'll be fine."

(I figured that really, Longueville deserves a second chance. It was never said in the manga exactly why she was stripped of her titles, so I figure 'to heck with it, Imma have some leeway with this. Lee, you've been warned.

Also... Phew! Long chapter! But I felt this had to be done in one shot, so here it is. 'Til next time, see ya.)


	8. Chapter 8

The room was silent. "Well, we can't really say that this outcome was unexpected," Old Osmond said. "The only troubling thing is that an artifact of great power was destroyed, even if it was 'evil' as you so claim. I'm afraid that these girls are going to have to be kept out of the Ball of Frigg as punishment, and you are to be kept under observation for the time being."

Vale groaned. "Look, is it really a good idea to have that sort of artifact?"

Colbert chose this time to speak up, "Yes, it was a gift from a powerful mage who cast unusual spells. He died before we could ask him about his spells and it was hoped that we could glean the origin of the spells from the staff."

Vale sighed. "Would you be willing to forget all of this if I got you a different magic artifact?"

Old Osmond stared at Vale. "And how would you propose doing this?"

"Simple; I'll get it from my own gear. Hang on a minute." Saying this, Vale pulled off his cloak and set it down, revealing its many pockets. "Hmm..." he said, looking it over, "Which one was... Ah!" He reached his hand into the pocket and pulled out a chest that was literally too large for the pocket; four feet long, two feet wide, and three feet tall with a curved lid. The room gaped at it, then gaped again when the dragonoid human opened the lid into an apparent room full of treasure. "Got a ladder anywhere?" The dragon asked the staff.

Longueville went and fetched a ladder from the closet, and Vale put it down into the box. The group stared at the top of the twelve foot ladder just barely poking out of the chest. One of the staff found his voice and said, "How the hell did he...?" He went quiet as Vale reappeared from the depths of the chest with an armload of weapons.

"Alright," he said, setting down the assortment, "These are all weapons and magic items from my own world. You may choose one, and only one, to replace the staff that I destroyed."

Louise noticed that he seemed strained about this, but opted to wait until they were alone to ask about it.

Kirche was more interested with the chest. She had seen him stick his entire arm into a small box earlier, but this chest was simply impossible!

Tabitha was looking over the staves. She felt that they had no real element affiliation that they could recognize, and even the weapons seemed to have a similar feel to them.

Colbert, like most of the staff, was at a loss for words. This being had not only taken blame for destroying one artifact, but was in possession of several more of varying ability. He made a note to watch Vale's test of spells.

Old Osmond was busy looking at the assorted weapons and staffs, and he was mildly surprised, to say the least. His eyes fell on a weapon and he grinned as he picked it up. "This one will do!"

The staff and students in the room face-vaulted. It was a staff made of a polished silver, patterned with gold filigree. At its top was the figure of a beautiful, if naked, woman, who was reaching out towards the sky with a look of pure joy.

Vale couldn't help a laugh at the geezer's choice. "Well, y'old lech, that is the Staff of Joyous Rapture. It's not very lethal, but if you know how to use it, it's worth keeping around."

Osmond got an interested look on his face. "And how do you you use it, if I may ask?"

Vale held up a finger. "Nope, you've gotta figure that out on your own. I only destroyed a staff that you could not use. Now I'm giving you a staff that you cannot use without studying it. Good luck!"

Old Osmond sighed. "Well, there are worse things." He looked back to the staff with a goofy grin on his face. "And after all, at least we got a new artifact to replace the Staff of Destruction ("Corruption!")!"

Vale packed the gear that was left into the separate room and closed the trunk before putting it away. The people in the office slowly cleared out until it was only Osmond, Colbert and Vale left. Louise had tried to convince him to come with, but he just told her he'd catch up.

(line break)

"So," Vale said after Louise had left the room, "I take it that you know something about either me or my summoner?"

Osmond and Colbert shared a look. "Yes..." Osmond said, "but we're not quite willing to tell very many people yet, do you understand?"

Vale nodded. "I take it this has something to do with the fact that I'm the only humanoid familiar to have been summoned? Well, at least the only one that I've seen anyway."

"Yes," Colbert agreed. He looked over to Osmond and continued once the head of the academy nodded. "We believe you are the legendary familiar Windalfr, Second Familiar of the Founder."

"Tell me, Familiar," Osmond said with a shrewd eye, "what do you know of the Founder Brimir."

Vale thought for a moment. "Brimir... Brimir... that name rings a bell..." He sighed. "Oh. Right." He pulled a small rod out of his pack with an odd crease in the middle of it. "I know why it rings a bell, there are certain Celestials who associated with a party lead by a 'Brimir' some two thousand or so years ago."

Osmond's eyes bulged. "You mean he was known on your world?!"

"No, not really," Vale said. Colbert and Osmond face-vaulted. "But Celestials and Infernals tend to keep records on who they make contracts with." He began to draw a very intricate insignia on the ground.

Colbert and Osmond watched curiously. "And what are you going to do?" Osmond finally asked.

"I'm going to summon one of the Celestials who owes me a favor, Librarian Efeniron," Vale replied. "He owes me two more answers in complete detail."

The two were gaping. "Wait, a Celestial owes you a favor?!" Colbert asked in mild shock. "How is that possible?!"

Vale snorted. "Didn't you think it was odd when I didn't question the fact that I had been summoned? This isn't the first time in my life I've been pulled across the Planes."

"Planes?" Osmond asked, regaining some of his composure.

"Look," Vale said, finishing up the design on the floor, "I don't want to sit here explaining the Multiverse, especially since I have just a basic understanding of it." He snapped a portion of the rod in half and placed it in the center of the intricate design; the professors saw that it was an extremely advanced and constricted summoning circle. Vale pulled his sword out and it turned into the etherial blade that he was known for across seven planes of existence. "Now, step back," Vale said, raising the blade above his head, "and cover your eyes."

The two humans did as asked as Vale plunged the ghostly greatsword into the floor, splitting the rod in half. There was a blinding flash and a small explosion sound. When the teachers could look, they saw a humanoid figure about eight feet tall, with alabaster skin and feathered wings. Its face and figure were androgynous, but its voice, when it spoke, was decidedly feminine.

"Duke Vale, it is good to see you well," it greeted. "Your grandfather wishes for you to know that succession has finally been resolved and you have been decided as the Heir."

Vale smiled warmly, ignoring Colbert and Osmonds sudden gaping faces. "It is good to see you as well, Efeniron. I wish to trade in another favor."

Efeniron nodded. "As you wish, but be cautious; you have already traded in a portion of your life force this day. If I am called upon to perform a difficult task, it may be beyond your ability to survive."

Vale shook his head. "Don't worry, all I seek is information and a Spellbook, if there is one compatible with this plane in your care."

The celestial looked around. "I see. Founder Brimir's plane. I have a spellbook which would serve perfectly here; you are tied to one who could use it, which is why you desire it, I assume. Two hundred platinum pieces is its price."

Vale nodded and produced a small pouch. "Here's the payment, plus a bit extra," he said.

The celestial nodded and smiled when she opened the pouch. "I see." She handed him a book that materialized out of thin air. "What information would you like?"

"I would like to know about Founder Brimir," he replied.

"Founder Brimir was noted to be the only user of the element of 'Void' from this plane, but that is a semi-falsehood," she started. "His abilities were tied to the void, but they are more closely associated with the true magic of your own home plane. He ascended into godhood after removing the elves of this land, who were beginning to learn this same type of magic, from their ancestral homes. This has caused hatred on the part of the elves." She paused. "Brimir was noted to be of the True Neutral alignment, and was believed to care only for humanity, condoning everything that he saw them do. He praised their mercy and applauded their viciousness."

"His associates in that time were known to be paragons of Chaotic Neutral and Lawful Neutral tendencies. As your connection suggests, you are the paragon of the Chaotic Good alignment, suggesting that your summoner is far closer to the Good end of the spectrum." She blinked and returned her attention to Vale. "That is all that is known and extrapolated on the Founder Brimir. Are there any specifics you wish to ask about?"

Vale shook his head. "No. Thank you for your aid, Efeniron."

"I am glad you were satisfied, Duke Vale. Oh... and thank you for the gift." The two humans in the room could swear that she blushed slightly before she faded out. "Also... when you get back... you will have a rather annoyed pair of siblings to deal with..."

Vale was glad that his silver scales hide the fact that he paled considerably at that last sentence.

Colbert and Osmond were left alone with their thoughts after Vale excused himself. For a while, they just sat silently. Finally, Colbert broke the silence. "What in the name of the Founder has Louise gotten us into?"


End file.
